It's a potboiler: Gordon Ramsay in family feud

The chef has released an open letter that exposes a painful family rift, accusing his father-in-law and former business partner of acting like a dictator.

Trouble brewed when Ramsay fired his wife's father, Chris Hutcheson, as chief executive of Gordon Ramsay Holdings after 12 years. In a subsequent interview, Hutcheson said Ramsay had turned into "a monster."

In the letter, published Tuesday in London's Evening Standard newspaper, Ramsay said Hutcheson had been "running the business as a dictator."

He also urged his mother-in-law, Greta Hutcheson, to "stop punishing" her daughter.

Ramsay's TV shows include "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "Hell's Kitchen." He runs restaurants around the world.